An Introduction to T-SQL

Hi everyone! Right, now we are starting to get down to the more complicated stuff that SQL has to offer.

Recently, I have been working with a senior developer looking at Stored Procedures, User Defined Functions and Triggers and learning how to implement them successfully within a database project.

Although programmable objects can be written in both T-SQL (Transact-SQL) and CLR (Common Language Runtime), I have been learning primarily in T-SQL so that is what my examples will be formed in for the following blog posts. As time goes on - I'm sure I will cover them in CLR too so watch this space!

For the purpose of this mini interim post - I am going to write a little bit of background knowledge about T-SQL. Really this is just to give a flavour on what's to come.

What is T-SQL?

T-SQL (or Transaction-Structured Query Language) is an invaluable extension by Microsoft and Sybase to standard SQL which includes procedural programming concepts, the inclusion of local variables and various supporting functions for data processing. Speaking from experience, I find it like a cross between VB (Visual Basic) and standard SQL. However, it is not a standalone language and has to be used in conjunction with SQL.

What is it used for? 

T-SQL is a massive central hub of Microsoft SQL Server as all applications made to communicate with SQL Server will do so using T-SQL. It can be used in many situations, of which I intend on covering the following: 

• Stored Procedures
• Cursors 
• Error Handling
• User Defined Functions 
• Triggers (DML, DDL and LOGON)

I am also splitting these posts up into smaller more digestible chunks too because, as you can imagine, there's quite a lot to cover (plus I am learning as I'm going along, so please bare with me!) If you have any questions please don't hesitate to comment on any of my posts and I should be able to respond fairly quickly.